Travel Guide Ingwiller

At the gateway to the Vosges du Nord Regional Nature Park, 40 kilometers northwest of Strasbourg, the roads between the hills become quieter. The landscapes and serenity of the Pays de Hanau and Val de Moder invite you to relax. Breathing in nature's fresh air, venturing into the forest on the lookout for characters from fairy tales and legends, and discovering the riches of this ancient county of Hanau-Lichtenberg is a real treat! Already a town in Gallo-Roman times, Ingwiller was granted town status by the Emperor in 1435. As the center of an important bailiwick of the Hanau-Lichtenberg county, the town developed its commercial and craft activities, and by the end of the 19th century had become a powerful and diversified industrial center. Notable buildings include the Protestant church (12th to 18th century, pastoral pulpit listed as a Monument Historique, keystone with trihedron of hares); the Catholic church of Sainte-Madeleine (neo-Gothic style, late 15th century baptismal font, 19th century Sauer organ); synagogue (built in 1822, partly on the remains of the former castle of the Counts of Lichtenberg, in the form of an attractive 18th-century building housing a discreet community center, entirely remodeled in 1891 and fitted with an Oriental-style bulbous bell tower clad in copper in 1903); the town hall (1825, in neo-classical pink sandstone ashlar, housing a slab commemorating the rebuilding of Ingwiller castle in 1472 by Jacques de Lichtenberg, a former Alsatian nobleman, which was destroyed in 1677).